Piracy fight goes to Washington

CACP chair Rick Cotton lobbies for more border enforcement

NEW YORK -- The U.S. needs improved customs and border protection resources for its fight against piracy, NBC Universal executive vp and general counsel Rick Cotton urged a U.S. Senate committee Tuesday.

"We cannot call upon our trading partners to take extraordinary measures to protect intellectual property if we are not willing to give the customs agencies all the resources and statutory tools they need to enable them to safeguard our borders against infringement," he said.

Cotton, who is also chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce-led Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (CACP), urged the Senate to move forward with legislation designed to bolster intellectual property enforcement resources and tools.

The bill was recently introduced in the Senate, with the House of Representatives not having introduced a similar bill yet.

In testimony submitted to the Senate Finance Committee, Cotton called for "a new era in the role of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau in protecting the future economic well-being of the U.S."

The former "must reshape itself as a bulwark to ensure that the innovation and creativity of U.S. industry are used to produce jobs here and is not stolen abroad -- endangering our economy, killing our jobs, threatening our citizens' health and safety and nourishing organized crime," Cotton said.